Comments by "" (@alicemerray) on "The Russell Brand Scandal + The Fixing The Police | Pod Save the UK" video.

  1. I knew the "one bad apple" thing would come up in the policing discussion. Your guest was right to say the barrel is rotten, that's the point. The whole saying, which hardly anyone ever completes when they're busy trying to deploy it as an excuse, is: One bad apple *spoils the whole barrel*. In other words, if bad behaviour is left unchecked it DOES ruin the whole organisation! The likes of Cressida Dick don't realise what they are actually saying when they half use this phrase.
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  2. We need to import the approach to libel/slander that the US uses, as it seems to allow more for ordinary people to accuse public figures without having to fear legal action. I have heard legal podcasts discuss how this works but IANAL so can't remember the details. But our system clearly favours the wrong-doer as it isn't just the people directly affected by an abuser who are in fear it is the larger organisations too. That's why places like C4 and the BBC don't like to take action, as they fear the courts. They've got, as they see it, a lot of rumours, a few actual complaints - usually without witnesses - and a "star" with a fearsome legal team. So they take the easy way out. They stop putting staff in harm's way, they stop hiring the "star" but they basically just wash their hands and nothing is done about the actual problem.
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